Jean Brundrit
Happily Ever After (detail)
Four pinhole photographs
160 x 45cm

A Volkskas Award finalist,
Brundrit will be showing this
new piece on the 'Unplugged' show
at the Rembrandt van Rijn Gallery

Volkskas Award nominees

The finalists in the annual Volkskas Atelier awards competition have been announced - this is that highly desirable prize which gives a young artist an air ticket to Paris, six months' residence and studio space at Le Cité des Arts, and R30 000 to buy croissants, wine, metro tickets and art materials. For those who don't win, there are four consolation prizes of R5 000 each. Judging is by submission of work, first on a regional and then on a national basis. This year's finalists are Jean Brundrit, Wayne Barker, Hanneke Benade, Peter Rippon and Carl Gietl. The winner will be announced at the Pietersburg Museum of Art on June 8, and in this column in a special update as soon as ArtThrob receives the information.

Update: It has been announced that the winner of the 1998 Volkskas Award is Carl Gietl.

The following press release has been received in this office, and all we can say is, many congratulations to all the nominees, but fancy Johannesburg being named as a City of the Year for supporting the Biennale! We all know the city bureaucrats autocratically sabotaged the whole event by announcing an early closure. Do you think the Trust is hoping for better behaviour next time - if there is a next time?

The finalists for the Arts and Culture Trust Awards are as follows:

Journalist of the year
1 Caroline Smart - Editor of D'Arts, a magazine dedicated to the arts in KwaZulu-Natal, and published monthly by the Durban Arts Association
2 Adrienne Sichel - Star Tonight arts journalist, specialising in dance and community theatre
3 Rodney Trudgeon - Principal announcer with Safm, renowned for his classical music programmes and knowledge of the genre.

Print publication of the year
1 'Artreach' - An 8-page, A3 format joint newsletter of the Ilitha Arts Education Project and the Eastern Cape Department of Sport, Art and Culture, distributed to 7 000 schools in the province
2 'The Cultural Weapon' - 68-pg monthly publication providing information and critical comment on national cultural developments, published by Article 27 Arts and Culture Consultants
3 'D'Arts Magazine' - Fifteen-year-old, 24-page Durban Arts monthly publication
4 'Scenaria' - Oldest publication dedicated to the performing arts, celebrating its 21st birthday this year, and edited by Julius Eichbaum.

Electronic media of the year in support of the arts
1 UCT Poetry Web - Website dedicated to promoting SA poetry, run by Peter Horn
2 'Shell Road to Fame' - SABC television programme profiling new talent
3 'Front Row' - M-Net's programme which profiles the arts and artists
4 artslink.co.za - Website promoting the arts and artists internationally; includes a calendar of events, debate, contact details of numerous arts organisations and artists, run by TJ de Klerk
5 South African Virtual Art Gallery - Website hosting/selling SA visual art and exhibiting new SA art, hosted jointly by Fred de Jager and Andries Loots.
Note: this category has five finalists to better reflect the range of electronic media in support of the arts.

Arts and culture publicists of the year
1 Versfeld and Thompson - A publicity company based in Durban whose work has extended from Crosby, Stills and Nash, Peabo Bryson and Kinky Friedman concerts to Playhouse, BAT Centre and Creative Art Centre events
2 Jonathan Hurwitz - Senior publicist at the State Theatre
3 Nico Brits - Senior publicist at the Market Theatre.

Arts and culture education project of the year
1 Ilitha Arts Education Project - An independent arts and culture organisation based at Rhodes University, committed to developing arts education within the schools in the province.
2 Moving Into Dance Community - A training programme which has produced Dance Teachers Training Course teachers and performers of outstanding quality
3 Arts and Culture Management - A course providing much-needed training for Programme at Wits Business School arts administrators.

Cultural development project of the year
1 Community Arts Project - The longest-existing community arts project in the country, which has changed and developed courses to meet changing needs; aimed particularly at historically disadvantaged communities
2 Buskaid/Soweto String Project - A project dedicated to training musicians in classical music in Soweto
3 Osauka Satopa Arts and Culture Project - A project committed to generating self-sustainability within the arts and crafts sector by marketing art and craft internationally, and finding jobs for craftspeople.

Arts administrator of the year
1 Geoff Shute - Through Total Arts Management, has provided organisational and marketing services to numerous arts companies and cultural events
2 Lynette Marais - Director: Standard Bank National Arts Festival, the longest-running, largest festival in the country
3 Delysia Forbes - The Co-ordinator of Arts and Culture in Cape Town who has driven the formation of a metropolitan cultural policy and arts council.

City of the year in support of the arts
1 Johannesburg - For its support for major international events such as the Biennale and Arts Alive Festival
2 Cape Town - For being the only city in the post-1994 era to devise an arts policy with its constituents, and develop a mechanism to implement this policy
3 Grahamstown - For hosting the largest festival in Africa.

Arts and culture MEC of the year
No nominations.

International arts sponsor of the year
1 British Council - For supporting the launch of Business and Arts South Africa (BASA), bringing numerous British arts groups to South Africa, and supporting South African artists travelling to and studying in Britain
2 Alliance Française de Durban - With meagre resources, has provided profound support to cultural projects in Durban, and through its Director, Frederick Dart, has had a presence at just about every Durban exhibition, music event, dance and theatre project in the last few years
3 Royal Netherlands Embassy - With the largest cultural budget out of all foreign embassies, the Netherlands Embassy has provided support to and sustained numerous projects of outstanding quality which might otherwise not have seen the light of day
4 The French Institute - Has facilitated cultural exchange between France and South Africa, and provided numerous opportunities for South African artists abroad, has strengthened links between South African and Francophone Africa, and funded numerous SA cultural projects.

A lifetime achievement award will be made on the night of the awards.

Update: And the winners are ...

Planet Hollywood Arts and Culture Journalist of the Year: Adrienne Sichel.
MIDI Trust Print Publication of the Year in Support of the Arts: D'Arts.
Nedbank Electronic Media Programme of the Year in support of the Arts: http://www.artslink.co.za.
Vodacom Arts and Culture Publicist of the Year (two awards): Versfeld and Thompson and Jonathan Hurwitz.
Coca-Cola Arts and Culture Education Project of the Year: Arts and Culture Management Programme, Wits University.
Sun International Cultural Development Project of the Year: Community Arts Project.
Nedcor Investment Bank Arts Administrator of the Year: Lynette Marais.
City of the Year in Support of the Arts: Cape Town.
International Arts Sponsor of the Year: The French Institute.
Lifetime Achievement in the Arts and Culture (two awards): Percy Baneshik and Gibson Kente.

Cape Town lectures

'The Imaging of Memory: Art and Memorials' is a favourite subject of Neville Dubow, Michaelis professor of fine art, who will be lecturing on the topic and showing slides in a four-part series to be held in June. The talks, under the auspices of the UCT Department of Adult Education, will question the capacity of contemporary forms of art and architecture to represent emotionally charged subject matter.

The venue is the Education Building, Middle Campus, UCT; the dates are Wednesdays June 3, 10, 17 and 24; the time is 8pm; the cost of the series is R46; and if you need any more info you can phone 650 2888.

Thami Mnyele foundation